A political Blog about how and why a reign of terror in West Bengal is unleashed planfully by imperialists, multinational company financed and supported Rainbow Alliance of Maoists, Naxalites,TMC, Congress, SUCI, perverted anti-Communist and anti-Leftist so-called sold-out intellectuals, corporate media and NGOs of doubtful character. Source: 'People's Democracy', 'Ganashakti' and other Left oriented journals.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

The UPA Government with beating of drums has announced initiation of austerity drive in view of the unprecedented economic crisis engulfing the entire country. Almost all the ministries and the departments of the Central Government and their ministers have been more or less abiding by the decision of the government in letter and spirit. The exception to the same is Mamata Banerjee and other Ministers belonging to her party.

She has in fact turned the Railway Ministry into her personal property. Showing thumb to the prime minister, she has been engaged in one after another inauguration of old trains in new names and laying afresh foundations stones of the same old projects spending huge money from the railway exchequer. Moreover, she has also been announcing one after another projects without having the sanction of neither the Railway Ministry nor the UPA Government.

Her follower Minister for Shipping Mukul Roy is not lagging behind her in this respect. He has spent more than Rs. 3 Lakhs for hiring the car in which he travels in the last 3 months since taking oath. The Calcutta Port Trust, which is under his ministry, has paid the entire bill to the “Pandey Travels” wherefrom the car has been hired. The details of the bills are as follows.

The total expenditure incurred on hired car comes to Rs. 3,40,786 (Rupees Three Lakhs Forty Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-six). Though he has spent such huge money on hiring a car for himself from the fund of the Calcutta Port Trust, he has visited the said organization for 3 times only during this period.

If a union minister spends more than Rs.1 Lakh on hiring a car only for official purpose, it can be imagined easily how much is incurred from public exchequer on his other facilities and amenities. This is nothing but blatant loot and plunder of public money.

Apart from travel business, the Pandey Travels have other businesses also. Shri Mukul Roy has inaugurated the “MBL Institute of Management”, a private college, owned by the Pandey Travels on 28-11-2009 on Chowringhee Road, Kolkata. This office of this private business organization is housed on the ground floor of Shantiniketan Building on Camac Street, Kolkata.

The sycophant spineless intellectuals are shamelessly silent on loot of public money by a union minister.

Not for creating its own infrastructure. The Railway Ministry under the instruction of Mamata Banerjee has decided to hand over large quantum of vacant railway lands including prime agricultural lands to big business houses in Kolkata, Siliguri and other big cities of the country. The Railways have informed that it has already earmarked 3,744 acres of land for the purpose in prime areas of Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Ajamgarh, Guwhati, Kanpur, Kolkata and other cities. Renowned promoters and builders would be invited to construct shopping malls, hotels and business centres in these lands solely owned by the railways by virtue of Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

It is pertinent to point out that the Indian Railways have acquired agricultural lands in different parts of the country with the help of the respective state governments for constructing infrastructure of the railways. As for example, in Howrah it had acquired 700 acres of land in 1984-85 with the help of the state government for constructing a “Goods Terminal”.

Now, the railways plan to lease out 3,744 acres of acquired land to private parties. It expects to earn Rs. 2,700 crores on this account. The said 3,744 acres of land has already been handed over to Railway Land Development Authority.

In reply to question during last railway budget, Mamata Banerjee had stated on the floor of the parliament that her ministry had planned to use the vacant railway lands for commercial purposes with private entrepreneurs on PPP Model (Public-Private Partnership Model). She informed that thousands of acres of railway land have already been earmarked for the same.

It would not be out of place to mention that in Singur she did not allow the Nano Car Factory to come up on the plea of construction of factory, Shopping Malls, Beauty Parlours etc. over agricultural lands. But after becoming Railway Minister she is hell bent on handing over prime agricultural lands owned by the railways to private parties for the same purpose.

It is relevant to point out that the entire land of 3,744 acres including agricultural land was acquired for the development of railway infrastructure in terms of Land Acquisition Act, 1894. This land cannot be used for any purpose other than the purpose for which it was originally acquired as per law.

But in gross violation of the provisions of the relevant act, Mamata Banerjee has been promoting big business houses with some ulterior motive and hidden agenda.

The sycophant spineless intellectuals, who were so vocal during Singur and Nandigram episodes in the name of safeguarding agricultural land, are shamelessly silent on misuse of acquired agricultural lands of the railways for promoting private business. The reason is simple. Most of them remain purchased in this or that way to serve the interests of big business houses and finance capital. The duplicity of these perverted intellectuals, therefore, stand exposed to the people from all walks of life.

Monday, November 23, 2009

ABOUT 40 EMINENT INTELLECTUALS, WRITERS AND ARTISTS ETC. JOINTLY ISSUED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT FROM NEW DELHI

“There has been a spate of growing murder and violence in certain areas of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal by armed persons acting on behalf of the ‘CPI (Maoist)’. We strongly feel that their use of the name of Mao Zedong, a widely respected figure, while carrying out the acts of carnage and killing, is reprehensible. Such acts can also in no way be justified in the name of a war against the state. While every conscious citizen opposes acts of oppression committed by members of the exploiting classes or individuals in the state apparatus, the so-called ‘Maoists’, by their violent acts of vendetta, torture and gruesome killings, are gravely damaging the cause of the popular democratic movement. The ‘Maoists’ are thus in fact working against the interests of the workers and peasants.

In order to isolate the ‘Maoists’ politically, it is however important that the Indian state do all that is necessary to restore its presence and credibility in tribal areas whose interests it has largely been ignoring. The central government should review its neo-liberal policies that have pauperized the tribal people and help the state governments to meeting their developmental challenges in these areas. Counter insurgency vigilante groups (such as Salwa Judum) have proved to be counter productive. Harassment and killing of innocent local people should be avoided while tackling the violence, and those responsible for such acts in the name of fighting the ‘Maoists’ should be punished. A genuine dialogue should be started with those ‘Maoists’ who are ready to give up the path of armed struggle.”

The whole country has been going through unprecedented crisis as a result of worldwide financial recession and less production of cereals in the country. The central government has therefore taken a decision for austerity drive in every ministry and organization under its control. Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Shri Pranab Kumar Mukherjee and others are actively abiding by this decision. As a part of this decision, they have already started to travel in economic class of air flights and brought down other expenses.

But this is not so with the Indian Railways under Mamata Banerjee. It seems that the Indian Railways is a separate entity out of the purview of the Central Government. She considers it to be her private individual property and misuses railway money extravagantly for the promotion of her party interests.

After becoming Union Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee has formed three new Committees to reward the Maoist intellectuals and the opportunists who had worked for her in the last Parliamentary Elections, 2009. Under her instruction, the Railway Board under the Ministry of Railways, Government of India has issued a Government Order bearing No. ERB-1/2009/23/33 on 9th October 2009 constituting the said committees with detailed facilities.

1 Heritage and Cultural Committee under the chairpersonship of Smt. Shaoli Mitra

3 Passengers’ Amenities Committee under the chairpersonship of Shri Derek-o-Brayen

The entire expenses of these committees amounting to more than Rs. 50 Lakhs per month will be borne by the Indian Railways. Each full time member of the Committee will be paid Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand) as monthly allowance and each part-timer will be paid Rs. 25,000/- per month without performing any job. They will be also provided with the following facilities and amenities free of cost as per the said Government Order.

· Meeting allowance @ Rs. 520/-per meeting

· Free 1st Class AC Railway Pass with one companion

· Travel in Executive Class by flight

· Travel on road by car to be provided by the Indian Railways

· Lodging and boarding in Class I hotel anywhere

· Free telephone with ISD/STD facilities both at residence and office

· Free Medical treatment and facilities at the cost of the Indian Railways

· TA & DA at par with railway officers

Each member of the committees can appoint Private Secretary and required number of peons.

The Chairperson of each committee can extend the Committee by co-opting any person though to be necessary.

These committees are unprecedented in the history of the Indian Railways. This is the first time that such expensive committees have been constituted at the cost of the public exchequer to accommodate sycophants and so-called champions of tribals and downtrodden. These sycophants often used to raise the questions of nepotism, corruption and exploitation. But now they are most shamelessly engaged in the same.

Apart from this, the sycophant singers are being paid abnormal fees for singing in the inaugural functions. Shri Nachiketa Chakraborty has been paid Rs. 70,000/- per function. Similarly, the Maoist singer Pallab Kirtania has also been paid abnormal fees for the same purpose.

The loot and plunder of public exchequer by Mamata Banerjee along with her Maoist intellectuals and sycophants is unprecedented in the history of Indian Railways. All opposition parties irrespective of affiliation should raise the matter on the floor of the Parliament, which is now in session to save public money from being plundered by the so-called champions of tribals and farmers.

It is most surprising that Medha Patkar, Arundhati Roy and other intellectuals have been maintaining mysterious and motivated silence over the issue.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

There is no denying the fact that a number of Maoist intellectuals and other opportunists in the guise of impartiality and neutrality had played a pivotal role in sabotaging industrialization at Singur, Nandigram and developmental works in West Bengal during the last three years in connivance with industrial competitors, big business houses and imperialists. They had also worked day in and day out campaigning in favour of Mamata Banerjee and her party candidates during the last Parliamentary Elections, 2009. Apart from this, they have also been supporting Maoists and instrumental in inciting criminals and antisocials to create serious problems of law and order in the state to destabilize the Left Front Government in West Bengal.

After becoming Union Railway Minister, Mamata Banerjee has constituted three new Committees to reward these Maoist intellectuals and the opportunists. Under her instruction, the Railway Board under the Ministry of Railways, Government of India has issued a Government Order bearing No. ERB-1/2009/23/33 on 9th October 2009 constituting the said committees with detailed facilities.

1 Heritage and Cultural Committee under the chairpersonship of Smt. Shaoli Mitra

3 Passengers’ Services Committee under the chairpersonship of Shri Derek-o-Brayen

The entire expenses of these committees will be borne by the Indian Railways. Each full time member of the Committee will be paid Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand) as monthly salary and each part-timer will be paid Rs. 25,000/- per month. They will be also provided with the following facilities and amenities free of cost as per the said Government Order.

· Meeting allowance @ Rs. 520/-per day

· Free 1st Class AC Railway Pass with one companion

· Travel in Executive Class by flight

· Travel on road by car to be provided by the Indian Railways

· Lodging and boarding in Class I hotel anywhere

· Free telephone with ISD/STD facilities both at residence and office

· Free Medical treatment and facilities at the cost of the Indian Railways

· TA & DA at par with railway officers

Each and every Member of the Committees can appoint his/her own Private Secretary and of peons. All of them will also be provided separate office and expenses for the same.

The Chairperson of each committee can enlarge his /her Committee by co-opting any person thought to be necessary.

The total expenditure in maintaining these three Committees comes around 50 Lakhs (Rupees Fifty Lakhs) per month.

These committees are unprecedented in the history of the Indian Railways. This is the first time that such expensive committees have been constituted at the cost of the public exchequer to accommodate sycophants and ‘so-called’ champions of tribals and downtrodden. These sycophants often used to raise the questions of nepotism, corruption and exploitation. But now they are most shamelessly drawing huge money from railway exchequer without performing any job.